Anita Radcliffe
Anita Radcliffe (or Anita Campbell-Green Dearly in the live-action version and television series) is a character from the 101 Dalmatians franchise. She is voiced by Lisa Davis in the first film, Kath Soucie in the animated series, and Jodi Benson in the sequel film and portrayed by Joely Richardson in the 1996 live-action film. Background Anita is the wife of Roger Radcliffe and owner of Perdita. She is beautiful, kind, and smart. She also is shown to be devoted to her husband, and loving toward Perdita, Pongo, and the puppies. The first film establishes that she is was a schoolmate to Cruella de Vil, and the two apparently shared a friendship at one point. By adulthood, Anita seems to be exhausted after Cruella's meetings, and admits at one point that Cruella is eccentric. Animated Films One Hundred and One Dalmatians Anita first debuted in One Hundred and One Dalmatians. She is spotted by Pongo, while out on a walk with her dalmatian, Perdita. Pongo, who is looking for potential mates for both him and Roger, attempts to bring the two owners together. Pongo tricks Roger into going to the park, and persues Anita. Eventually, Anita and Roger are both tangled up in Pongo's leash, resulting in the two of them falling into a pond. Anita frets at first, as she was wearing a new suit and hat, but then she and Roger begin laughing together. A time skip shows that Anita marries Roger, and she and Perdita move into a small home with Roger and Pongo. It is also revealed that Pongo and Perdita are expecting puppies. Anita is shown trying to get Roger, who is busy composing, to come down for tea. When he finally does, she compliments him on the song that he is writing. Their tea is interrupted by the impromptu visit of Anita's former schoolmate, Cruella de Vil. The name inspires lyrics for the song Roger is writing, and he begins singing a somewhat mocking tune. Anita tries to shush him, but Roger goes upstairs to work on the song, leaving Anita to entertain her friend. Cruella walks in, and Anita notes Cruella's new fur coat. Cruella responds with a comment about her love for fur. Cruella then gets down to business, and asks where the puppies are. Anita tells Cruella that the puppies are not expected for a few more weeks, and that these things cannot be rushed. However, Cruella is now looking at a picture of Pongo and Perdita, murmuring about their coats. Anita invites Cruella for tea, but Cruella cannot stay. Cruella leaves just as quickly as she came, noting that she will be back in three weeks when the puppies are born. Three weeks later, Perdita gives birth, and Anita, along with Nanny, assist. Anita is shown calling out puppy numbers, as the litter increases from 8 to 11 to 14 to a total of 15. However, one of the puppies apparently dies. However, Roger is able to revive the puppy, much to Anita and Nanny's relief. Cruella soon comes in, as she had promised. However, Cruella is shown to be disappointed and angry that the puppies are all white. Anita notes that the spots come in a few weeks after the puppies are born. Cruella is relieved, and quickly offers to buy the puppies, noting that Anita and Roger cannot possibly afford to keep them all. Anita notes that they couldn't sell the puppies, as Perdita would be heartbroken, and that she and Roger could find a way to get along. Cruella laughs at the idea of Roger's songs supporting the family. This incites Roger to step in; Roger sternly tells Cruella that they have no intention of selling the puppies. Cruella is angered to the point that she ends her friendship with Anita, and storms out vowing revenge. Anita and Nanny applaud Roger on his bravery. One night, when the puppies are older, Anita and Roger take Pongo and Perdita to the park. They return to find that the puppies have been stolen. Soon after, Cruella calls, expressing shock over the theft. Roger is shown to believe that Cruella was behind the theft, but Anita isn't convinced. She admits that Cruella is eccentric, but that she couldn't be a thief. Anita also notes that Cruella's home had been searched, but no evidence had turned up. However, unknown to her, Cruella had hired two henchmen, Jasper and Horace Badun, to steal the puppies, with the intention of turning them into fur coats. Anita is not shown again until around Christmastime. She is shown decorating a tree, while Roger is listening to the radio, which is playing the song he wrote. Anita notes that the song was Roger's first hit, and that it has brought in a substantial amount of money. Roger agrees, but notes that he can't believe that Pongo and Perdita ran away. (Unknown to either of them, Pongo and Perdita had gone to rescue the puppies from Cruella.) Suddenly, a group of "labradors" bound in through the door. Anita cleans the face of one of the adults, and discovers that it is actually Perdita. Anita and Roger notice that the puppies with them are much greater in number than the original 15. Anita, along with Nanny, counts the puppies, while Roger adds up the totals, finding out that there are 101 Dalmatians. Anita asks Roger what they should do with the other puppies. Roger decides to keep them, which leads Anita to point out that their house is too small for 101 dogs. Roger responds that they can use the money from his song to buy a country home large enough for them all. 101 Dalmatians II: Patch's London Adventure In 101 Dalmatians II: Patch's London Adventure, Anita, alongside Roger, are shown to be preparing for the move to a country home they have bought. Later, after the adults learn of Patch being left behind in London, they frantically travel back in their car to find him, arriving in time to retrieve not just Patch, but the rest of his siblings who had also been kidnapped from the farm while they were gone. Live Action 101 Dalmatians (1996 film) In the live action remake, Anita's maiden name is Campbell-Green and is changed to Dearly after marrying Roger and she works as a fashion designer for Cruella in the House of De Vil. As she works for the House Of Devil, Cruella catches her making a sketch of a Dalmatian Spotted Coat as a joke. It is this design which inspires Cruella to carry out her scheme. When Cruella states her fears on Anita going to work somewhere else, Anita claims she'll only retire if she met someone and working clashed with their plans. She later meets Roger in St, James Park, when she hits him with her purse after a misunderstanding of her thinking Roger was abducting Perdita (who himself believed Perdita to be Pongo). She claims to carry bricks in her purse since she's been repaving her garden and when she sees a discarded brick, she picks it up (she had collected three on that speicific day). After she crashes her bike into the Pond, Roger rescues her and tries to give Mouth-To-Mouth, but wasn't able to do it well, since Anita's arms were around his neck. She & Roger later marry and move into their own house, where her old Nanny comes back to work for them. Nanny realises, whilst diagnosing Perdita to be expecting, that Anita is pregnant too. When she and Roger refuse to sell the puppies to Cruella, She is fired from her job. When Pongo and Perdita run off to rescue the Puppies, Nanny claims that the Dalmatians were able to sense Ill-Intentions in Cruella, making her realise that Cruella is behind the Dog-Napping and what she plans to do. When the Dalmatians are returned, Roger convinces her to keep the other puppies, but she cautions Perdita that she won't have the pups chewing up the carpets and barking into the night. A year later after moving to their new home in the country Anita has her baby and it is implied that she is pregnant again. She serves as the deuteragonist of this film. The Series Anita has a secondary role in 101 Dalmatians: The Series. Whilst her design is based around her "Animated" Counterpart, she still works for the "House Of Devil" as she does in the "Live Action" Film. Anita is usually one who sees the best in everyone and is also seen to be very loyal, often standing up in Cruella's defence and even when offered to work for another fashion company, refuses since Cruella gave her, her start. She will however stand firm with Roger when it is revealed Cruella is the culprit, the two may sometimes bribe Cruella, if the evidence pops up. Anita is in denial that her boss is evil. Anita is sometimes a bit snarky, whether it does come to when she has to do something for Cruella (at risk of being fired) or something Roger may say or do. Anita holds the honor of being "Fashion Designer Of The Year", to which Cruella tried to steal from her, by disgusing herself as Anita and claiming it in her name. Anita and Rodger have a niece called Amber, who looks like Anita. Concept Design In early versions of the animated 101 Dalmatians, Anita is shown to have a rather different hair style. This shows her hair done up more in a similar style to the females of the Darling family in Peter Pan. This may be the reason why her hair is later made to be in a bun. She is also seen to be wearing an apron too, but this is also altered in the actual film. Her original design can still be seen in the film, as Cruella looks at the newspaper about the Dalmatians with the image of Roger, Anita and Nanny showing her look. Category:Humans Category:Characters Category:Female Characters Category:Article stubs Category:Series Characters Category:Live-Action Characters Category:Animated Characters